I've been on the service for a few months as well and have been refunded ~$100.
Another possibility- Amazon just coopts the idea and rolls it into a feature of prime, ala Orbitz.
Paribus (YC S15) saves you money when items you purchased online drop in price
21–30 of 52 posts
Re: Paribus (YC S15) saves you money when items you purchased online drop in price
#22While this is cool, isn't the concern that a retailer would get upset and change a policy to prevent this from happening? What's the end game here?
I was thinking the exact same thing. To expand, if retailers get upset and try to work against this in any effective manner, doesn't that just put them out of business? It's like basing a business off another company's api without asking for permission or verifying that you're not violating ToS. They could just pull the plug on you at any moment. This seems like a very perilous business strategy..
I think the hope is that the negative PR outweighs the "gain" from disabling access.
Disclaimer: I work for Refund Retriever, which has a similar business model.
Re: Paribus (YC S15) saves you money when items you purchased online drop in price
#23While this is cool, isn't the concern that a retailer would get upset and change a policy to prevent this from happening? What's the end game here?
Founder here. Definitely a common first reaction, but we've found that on average shoppers become far more loyal (and spend more, growing store top-line & often net bottom line) when this happens.
You might think we're crazy, but we fully believe (and have data to back up) that we're helping these stores far more than the costs.
Re: Paribus (YC S15) saves you money when items you purchased online drop in price
#24spread the referral love: https://paribus.co/i/IfODRS
Re: Paribus (YC S15) saves you money when items you purchased online drop in price
#25Seemingly really cool service. I don't know if I want to authenticate my email address with them though. It seems to me like Amazon/Best Buy/etc next move will be to add a provision that "You must submit a claim not through an automated service"
That would likely be far more negative than what they'd "gain". (Disclosure: Refund Retriever has a similar business model)
Re: Paribus (YC S15) saves you money when items you purchased online drop in price
#26I've used Paribus, and although I'm not usually a fan of letting services connect to my email (even the one I use for shopping), I like it. I've received a few refunds from products that I have pre-ordered and then watched the price drop the day after it came out. Amazon has been happy to honor all these requests so far.
Re: Paribus (YC S15) saves you money when items you purchased online drop in price
#27spread the referral love: https://paribus.co/i/IfODRS
Pretty sure referral links on HN aren't kosher.
Re: Paribus (YC S15) saves you money when items you purchased online drop in price
#28If a kid screams in the restaurant and they have a policy of giving him a free lollipop to calm him down, that doesn't mean we need an app to keep track of the restaurants you've visited without claiming your free lollipop and then hire a company to go around with an automated screaming device to coax dozens of lollipops out of the local businesses. This seems like the kind of company that would spoil this particular…
It's a good point. But I'd challenge you on your assumption that this is a bad thing for stores and consumers. It's a powerfully negative experience to buy something, and then find out within a few days (or hours) that it's selling for far less. It happens millions of times per day (www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2014/11/20/amazons-pricing-strategy-makes-life-miserable-for-the-competition/), and most people don't fi…
This is totally irrelevant to the parent's point, that point being that Paribus seems to be defecting in the refunds-when-reasonable game in a way that will probably harm consumers in the long run. It irritates me that you just wrote a bunch of talking points. Your response downthread was a lot better.
(Disclaimer: I use Paribus but it never got me any money yet.)
Re: Paribus (YC S15) saves you money when items you purchased online drop in price
#29If a kid screams in the restaurant and they have a policy of giving him a free lollipop to calm him down, that doesn't mean we need an app to keep track of the restaurants you've visited without claiming your free lollipop and then hire a company to go around with an automated screaming device to coax dozens of lollipops out of the local businesses. This seems like the kind of company that would spoil this particular…
It's a good point. But I'd challenge you on your assumption that this is a bad thing for stores and consumers. It's a powerfully negative experience to buy something, and then find out within a few days (or hours) that it's selling for far less. It happens millions of times per day (www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2014/11/20/amazons-pricing-strategy-makes-life-miserable-for-the-competition/), and most people don't fi…
I love a good story, but I think you're embellishing this one a bit much. It sounds a little like "We're rescuing victimized consumers from abusive companies employing teams of uptight actuaries intent on nickel-and-diming you wherever they can".
They might very well be conniving, but your app to me feels more like those people that save up a bunch of coupons and walk out with a cart full of groceries and the grocery store actually owing them money. There's nothing wrong with that: I have no doubt that the CEO of Fred Meyer still rues that day in college that I walked into one of his aisles and walked out with a bunch of cartons of eggs.
People aren't victims when a company offers a product at a price that the customer is willing to accept. I'm sure you have a fine app that will save some people some money, but we're not rebels striking an uprising against our grocery store overlords who dare to sell overpriced eggs to underprivileged American consumers.
(edit): The parent post has been edited to sound less like a movie trailer, so my post may now sound out-of-place.
Re: Paribus (YC S15) saves you money when items you purchased online drop in price
#30One data point: I signed up for the service ~ 6 months ago. I do ~ $200 in Amazon purchases a month. I got my first rebate last night: 50 cents back on some RAM that had dropped in price the day after I purchased it. For anyone who is concerned about email permissions, here's the email (automatically sent from my personal account) to Amazon: Subject: I was charged more than current price Hey, I am writing you to ask…
Is there a way you can set it to ignore meagre price drops?